Soccer-Reims players, staff denied tribute to club doctor

Stade de Reims players and staff will have to wait until lockdown measures are lifted in France before they can pay tribute to club doctor Bernard Gonzalez who died on Sunday. A local prosecutor said the cause of death was suicide after Gonzalez, 60, had been quarantined after contracting the coronavirus.

"The only solution will be to pay tribute all together at the Auguste Delaune stadium when our activities resume," Didier Perrin, the head of the Stade de Reims association, the amateur branch of the club, was quoted as saying by sports daily L'Equipe on Tuesday. "The funeral is limited to five persons so we cannot attend."

Over 98,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus and nearly 9,000 have died in France, which has been in lockdown since March 17 in an attempt to contain the spread of the disease.

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